Photo by Sam Thiel Minneota’s Ella Johnson goes up for a kill during their Class A quarterfinal match against Badger/Greenbush-Middle River on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.

MINNEOTA — The Minneota volleyball team had to make some early adjustments in its Class A quarterfinal match on Thursday against Badger/Greenbush-Middle River as one of its starters, McKenna Yost, wasn’t in the lineup due to precautionary reasons.

With some new starters and the Vikings’ other starting setter in Ireland Stassen moving to the full-time spot, second-seeded Minneota showed no signs of slowing down and earned a 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-11) victory at Xcel Energy Center.

Minneota coach Hayley Fruin said they rested Yost as precaution and that she’ll most likely be ready to go for today’s semifinal. She added despite adjusting from a 6-2 offense to a 5-1 offense, she felt seniors Natalee Rolbiecki, McKenzie Tolk and Abby Frie did a great job of talking with the younger players throughout the match.

“We didn’t have a lot of time, too, obviously to prepare for the match with a new rotation. We were just resting McKenna, most likely she’ll be fine [today] and be playing, we just took it easy and didn’t take any risks,” Fruin said. “We went from a 6-2 offense to a 5-1 offense which you wouldn’t think would be this huge adjustment, but also then Ireland goes from playing three rotations in the back row and setting to just setting all the way around, so you take her out of the lineup hitting. Then you lose McKenna and her defense and her great ball control but I thought Natalee, McKenzie and Abby did such a great job with having new players out there, like Grace Hennen playing in the right back and Elivia Faris playing three rotations, I could hear Natalee, McKenzie and Abby talking to those younger kids the entire time just kind of calming them down and give them a lot of credit.”

“I think all of the experience that we have as seniors and being here before, we know how they were feeling because we were them at one point,” Rolbiecki said. “We just said, ‘It’s OK, we’ll be here, it’s fine, just get the next one or try to do this better’ or tell them where the ball is most likely going so they can get there and just calm their nerves a little bit.”

Badger/Greenbush-Middle River held an early lead in Set 1 at 3-2, but Minneota quickly answered with a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 advantage. The two teams then traded points over the next several serves, but the Vikings continued to create separation, as a kill by Ella Johnson gave Minneota a double-digit lead at 18-8 before they took Set 1, 25-15.

The Vikings jumped out to a stronger start in Set 2, earning the first seven points of the frame before the Gators drew to within four at 11-7. That would be the closest B/GB-MR got, as a kill by Frie pushed Minneota’s advantage to 18-11. The Vikings then went up double digits at 22-12 before claiming Set 2, 25-14 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set saw Minneota again take control early on, turning a 5-1 lead into an 11-3 advantage. The Vikings never looked back, as an attack error by the Gators gave Minneota a 16-6 lead before the Vikings won Set 3, 25-11 to earn the sweep.

Rolbiecki and Frie led Minneota with 17 kills each while Faris added four and Emma Bottelberghe had three. Rolbiecki also led in digs with 13 while Tolk added 11 and Stassen had eight. Grace Hennen added two service aces.

Frie credited Stassen for being able to step up in a full-time role as well as Grace Hennen making key contributions in the back row.

“Ireland stepping up in that 5-1 position was big, and Grace also stepped up at the last moment,” Frie said. “Especially for a sophomore, I can’t imagine being in her shoes when we were little freshmen or sophomores sitting on the bench. Big props to those players that stepped up.”

Stassen also led in set assists with 38. During the third frame, Stassen recorded her 1,000th career assist.

“We didn’t expect her to get it in this match and then we found out we’ll be running a 5-1 offense and I thought, ‘OK, we should probably start tallying these stats,'” Fruin said. “It’s pretty cool and special, that’s a big accomplishment, so congrats to Ireland, very deserving.”

Up next

Minneota (28-4) will face random draw Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the semifinals today at 3 p.m. W-H-A defeated No. 3 seed Legacy Christian Academy 3-0.

Going into the match, Fruin said they just need to continue to serve and pass and be in system.

“We have yet to see Walker play, but again just serving and passing and just being in system as often as we can will be key,” Fruin said. “Hopefully we’re back to our normal rotation and playing as a team.”

“I think that if we’re able to run our middles like we were able to in this match, it’ll be very helpful,” Tolk added. “And if we keep our balls in system, then it’ll be a good game for us.”

Minneota 3, Badger/Greenbush-Middle River 0

B/GB-MR 15 14 11

Minneota 25 25 25

Kills: Minneota (Rolbiecki, Frie 17; Faris 4; Bottelberghe 3; Stassen, Johnson 1).

Digs: Minneota (Rolbiecki 13; Tolk 11; Stassen 8; G. Hennen 6; Sussner 5; Bottelberghe, Frie 2; Kremin, Jurrens 1).

Set Assists: Minneota (Stassen 38).

Serving (aces): Minneota (Tolk 15-15 (1); Sussner 15-15; G. Hennen 15-15 (2); D. Hennen 9-10 (1)).